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PDF Download ournal Summer 2009, Vol. 19 No. 2 Glacier Chasers Also in this issue: Journalism“missteps” examined Students tweet Montana pollution trial Enviro stories snatch national awards A quarterly publication of the Society of Environmental Journalists The new must-have, non-partisan guide tohotly contested issues of the nuclear era An essential reference, The Reporter’s Handbook presents scientifically accurate and accessible overviews of the most important issues in the nuclear realm, including: G health effects G nuclear safety and engineering G Three Mile Island and Chernobyl G nuclear medicine G food irradiation G transport of nuclear materials 304 pages I 978-0-8265-1659-6 hardcover $69.95 I 978-0-8265-1660-2 paper $29.95 G spent fuel G nuclear weapons ABOUT THE AUTHORS: G global warming Three of the authors (Michael R. Greenberg, Karen W. Lowrie, and Henry J. Mayer) have for more than a decade done nuclear The Reporter’s Handbook contains background waste research and review work as part of their association with briefs on topics related to nuclear materials, the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder energy, waste management, and risk; a glossary; Participation. The authors are also associated with the National key web and paper sources; and context regarding Center for Neighborhood and Brownfield Redevelopment at the risk assessment, environmental impact, economics, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at and policy. Each “brief” is based on interviews Rutgers. Greenberg also serves as associate editor for environ- with named scientists, engineers, or administra- mental health for the American Journal of Public Health and as tors in a nuclear specialty, and each has been editor-in-chief of Risk Analysis, where Lowrie serves as managing reviewed by a team of independent experts. editor. Bernadette M. West is Co-Chair of the Health Systems (The approach is based on that of their earlier and Policy Department at UMDNJ School of Public Health. book, The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook, which won a special award for journalism from the Sigma Delta Chi Society of professional journalists.) VAN DERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS 800-627-7377 G VanderbiltUniversityPress.com SEJournal Summer 2009,Vol. 19 No. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS features An experiment in Grace page 5 By Nadia White Photographers’ images capture global warming’s advance page 18 By Roger Archibald Media critic: Who will do regional or local investigations in science? page 23 By Michael Mansur page 18 NYT reporter’s ‘misstep’ causes furor among ‘skeptics’ page 26 By Bud Ward President’s Report: New Orleans retreat examines SEJ mission page 4 page 23 By Christy George Inside Story: Texas journalist adapts and digs deeper on the e-beat page 8 By Bill Dawson columns E-Reporting Biz: Amid the fear and fretting, an idea for journalism’s future page 12 By Bud Ward Reporter’s Toolbox: The easy way to do cool stuff online, mostly for free page 14 By Daniel Lathrop The Beat: In these hard times, enviro stories take major prizes, honors page 16 By Bill Dawson SEJ News: Five women move a mountain ... and end up in the trees page 22 By Linda L.S. Knouse Science Survey: Biofuels — The sequel page 28 COVER PHOTO By Bill Kovarik An Extreme Ice Survey team exploring a meltwater canyon carved almost 200 feet deep into the massive Book Shelf Book Reviews page 31 Greenland ice sheet by increasing summer runoff. Photo: © James Balog / Extreme Ice Survey 3 SEJournal Summer 2009 SEJ President’s Report New Orleans retreat examines SEJ mission in these difficult times By CHRISTY GEORGE SEJ’s strategic planning retreat started with challenging beat. gumbo ya-ya and ended with new vision and mission SEJ has always been about journalists helping statements, and new marching orders for our almost- journalists, in a field where there’s a lot of complexity to 20-year-old organization. master. Since SEJ was founded in 1990, the stakes have In a time of massive transformation in our indus- risen higher and higher. We now face a world where the try, SEJ-ers are not the slightest bit unclear about who environment itself is under severe threat, at a time when we are: a group of people who share a commitment to we, the messengers, face an uncertain future. The next making sure people — lots of people — understand three to five years are likely to be as critical for the fate clearly what is happening to our environment. We of the planet as for the future of journalism. aren’t activists, but we are mission-driven. We don’t The crisis has hit print hard, but no media platform advocate outcomes, but we do the work we do because we hope for is immune, and no funding model has yet emerged as a clear solu- good outcomes. tion. It’s not clear how bad things will get before the industry hits With 30 wordsmiths in one room, you might expect trouble. bottom. It’s not just newspapers that have lost advertising revenues. What we got instead was a clean, crisp re-statement of SEJ’s vision Magazines, niche publications and newsletters are also cutting — our overarching goal, the big vision that guides us as a 501(c)(3) staff. Commercial television stations all over the country are educational non-profit. Whether we fully attain it or not, it’s the buying out their highly paid anchors. Some for-profit companies lofty outcome we seek. see the answer to their woes as going non-profit. But even public The group went from this: “SEJ members envision an broadcasting has hit hard times. National Public Radio recently informed society through excellence in environmental journalism” laid off more than 50 people in its newsroom, and marquee PBS to this: “Credible and robust journalism that informs and engages programs have been losing major funders for several years. society on environmental issues.” Will at least one newspaper survive in every major city? Will There’s a lot packed into two adjectives and one verb. TV stations continue to produce local news, or will some pack it in, “Engages” — a commitment to making a bigger impact, “robust” leaving big cities with one or two news teams instead of three or — a vision of a changed future that is even healthier than it was four? And in smaller towns, will any local TV survive? Will before all this churning began, and “credible” — the enduring smaller dailies and weekly papers grow to fill the void left by value we refuse to give up no matter how intense the economic shrinking big city dailies? Will online news sites ever make enough pressure. This is a vision statement we’ll actually remember. money to support many environmental beat reporters? The revised mission statement — our everyday mantra, a All of this was on the minds of SEJ’s strategic planning group statement of what is possible, what we strive to accomplish with all at the New Orleans retreat, where we committed SEJ’s board and of SEJ’s programs and operations — also reflects where we are staff to re-examine our programs and services, find creative ways and where we hope to head. to grow and diversify our membership, engage both volunteers and Current: staff to prevent burnout and renew SEJ, and make SEJ a leader in SEJ’s MISSION: To advance public understanding of defining journalistic integrity. environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and One critical issue in the old plan that we didn’t mention was visibility of environmental reporting. building SEJ’s stature. The reason? We’re there. It’s a testament to Proposed: the hard work of SEJ’s staff and volunteers that we have come so SEJ’s MISSION: To strengthen the quality, reach and viabil- far in earning both public trust and the respect of our peers. ity of journalism across all media to advance public understand- Are there bumps in the road ahead? Almost certainly. SEJ ing of environmental issues. faces internal pressure from our growing number of freelancers to Most noteworthy is who comes first in the new mission help them make ends meet. Some ideas are easy — like serving as statement: Journalism, with a capital J. a clearinghouse for information about publications. Some are It’s not because we’ve stopped caring what our readers and harder, demanding significant staff time — like offering SEJ as a listeners and viewers and surfers get out of our work. It’s because, fiscal sponsor for members who win grants. Some may not be without us, they won’t get serious, authoritative and trustworthy possible, like providing health insurance, which our lawyer has information. For the moment, we need to turn our gaze inward. We told us could run afoul of IRS guidelines for 501(c)(3) non-profit need to hold up high standards as we create new media outlets and groups. But we are committed to exploring all of these possibilities, platforms. We need to tell the story of the 21st Century, the story and many more. of the environment, to an even wider audience. We need to pass There are also powerful external pressures. Keeping a steady on our highest values to a new generation of reporters, editors and stream of funding coming at a time when philanthropies are content producers. And we need to protect the brain trust of retrenching may be SEJ’s biggest challenge of all. This summer, environmental journalists who’ve spent years learning this continued on page 33 4 SEJournal Summer 2009 Feature An experiment in Grace Major case covered by new media produces satisfying results PHOTO BY DANIEL DOHERTY Andrew Schneider, formerly of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, discusses the criminal prosecution of W.R.
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